Cellphones could bring schools into 21st century

The debate over whether students should be allowed to take cellphones to school has emerged again.

This time, the push in favor of it isn't coming from students who want to text under their desks during world geography class. It's coming from school principals who believe it's time to take advantage of the potential of cellphones as educational tools.

And if that's not an idea whose time has come, surely its time is coming soon.

It's a way to bring the latest technology into the classroom using resources that already exit and students already know how to use. And it's already being done in other parts of the country.

It would just take a change in attitude and a shift in policy.

Cellphones have been banned from middle and high school campuses in the Lafayette Parish School System for several years.

The reasons are obvious. Ringing cellphones and students talking and texting are disruptive.

But now, a recent article in The Daily Advertiser says, the district is considering a revision to the cellphone policy that would allow middle school students to carry their phones to school, but not use them during school hours and would allow high school students to use their phones between classes. It would also give teachers the option of allowing their students to use their cellphones during class.

This idea was brought back by local principals who attended a national conference, Assistant Superintendent Sandra Billeaudeau recently told The Daily Advertiser. She said the local district is behind the national trend in on-campus cellphone use.

A USA Today report, quoting information from the National Association of School Administrators, said about 25 percent of U.S. schools allow phones. Safety is one of the biggest concerns of parents. Mix-ups sometimes happen and students don't get picked up on time from school or after-school activities and the students may not realize they're stranded until after the school office is closed. And these days, pay phones are few and far between.

There are questions to be answered before the issue is placed before the Lafayette Parish School Board for discussion. Aside from the concern that students may not honor the rules, there is a concern about overwhelming the district's wireless Internet if everyone is using their cellphones.

But those things can be overcome and they shouldn't be reasons not to take advantage of this available technology.

As Billeaudeau pointed out in the recent article, smartphones are mini-computers.

More than 150,000 apps are classified as educational. An article on the National Education Association website points out that smarthone apps can be used to explore almost any subject. One app provides testing to help students gauge how much they are learning and another will send out text message reminders to students when their assignments are due.

Not every student in a class has a working smartphone on a consistent basis. According to the NEA article, in 2012, about 53 percent of high school students owned smartphones. The simple solution, the article suggests, is to have students pair up.

But how can a teacher tell if the student is looking up the Battle of Waterloo or texting a friend? The same way teachers have always kept tabs on whether a student was answering textbook questions or writing a note about a boy she thought was cute - with the intention of passing the note to her friend.

The technology is here, and it's already in the hands of students. Let's use it to bring our classrooms into the 21st century.

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Cellphones could bring schools into 21st century

The debate over whether students should be allowed to take cellphones to school has emerged again.